Ben Cherington defends Stephen Drew signing

BALTIMORE — Backlash to the signing of Stephen Drew to a midseason $10 million deal began the moment Drew put pen to paper, and it has only grown as Drew has gone 1-for-14 in his first four games and then missed back-to-back games with stiffness in h

BALTIMORE — Backlash to the signing of Stephen Drew to a midseason $10 million deal began the moment Drew put pen to paper, and it has only grown as Drew has gone 1-for-14 in his first four games and then missed back-to-back games with stiffness in his oblique.

Ben Cherington expressed no regrets about the acquisition.

“He’s only played four games,” the Red Sox general manager said. “It seems pretty early to make a judgment on that one. We all know Stephen Drew is a really good major league player. We all know how good he is. We knew he was stepping back on a major-league stage, seeing major-league pitching, and we wouldn’t be a little bit surprised if it took him a little while to get the timing back and get comfortable. But we signed him because we thought it would make us better over the course of the season, and we still feel that way.”

Hall of Fame reporter Peter Gammons said first on Twitter and then on Boston radio that he believed media pressure had all but coerced Cherington into signing Drew, pushing elite youngster Xander Bogaerts to third base.

Cherington responded forcefully to that insinuation when asked about it on Tuesday at Camden Yards.

“False,” he said. “I was really surprised to see that. We know Stephen Drew really well. We signed Stephen Drew because I made a recommendation to ownership to sign Stephen Drew.”

As Drew lingered on the free-agent market and as youngsters Will Middlebrooks and Xander Bogaerts underperformed offensively and defensively, respectively, the Red Sox already had discussed bringing Drew back to add depth to the left side of the infield.

But those discussions increased in urgency when Middlebrooks suffered a broken finger on May 16, an injury that had kept him even from swinging a bat until last weekend. There’s still no timetable for his return. Drew signed a one-year deal with the Red Sox on May 20.

Signing Drew at that point gave the Red Sox a proven major-leaguer who they knew well from last season — and at the cost of only money, not the type of minor-league talent they might have needed to make a similar addition via trade in June or July.

“We felt like, if we didn’t sign him, we might be in position to have to make a trade at some point and give up talent to address, potentially, an area of need,” Cherington said. “We have a guy who we trust, who we like, who’s a good player, who’s a trustworthy player, who’s been here and done that who’s available to sign without giving up talent, so we did it. I made that recommendation, and I would make that recommendation again.”

Drew wasn’t in the lineup Tuesday to give his oblique stiffness another chance to heal. He likely won’t be in the lineup Wednesday, either, with Baltimore pitching lefty Wei-Yin Chen, but could return Thursday.